The days of NBA glory for Jeremy Lin (???) are well behind him, but he said Wednesday that he had a different focus in joining the Kaohsiung Steelers in Taiwan’s professional P. LEAGUE+ — helping the younger generation of players excel.
Lin, who has bounced around the Chinese Basketball Association and the NBA G League in recent years but retained a large following in Taiwan that was built during the Linsanity craze in 2012, signed with the Steelers in late January.
He talked about how his outlook on the game has changed at a press conference Wednesday in which he was introduced as a member of the Steelers.
“When I was younger, I wanted to prove myself by winning championships, but now as I’m older I’m searching for something more meaningful in basketball. Now I’m more into focusing on the new generation of basketball players, and the Steelers have many talented and young players,” the 34-year-old Lin said.
He said it was also the reason why he joined the Guangzhou Loong Lions in the CBA in China at the start of the 2022-2023 season.
One of the younger players on the Steelers roster, 23-year-old Chen Yu-wei (???), was also a participant in one of Lin’s basketball camps in Taiwan over a decade ago.
“To see Yu-wei and other players from my camps (play professionally) makes me really proud,” Lin said, speaking in Mandarin throughout the press conference. “I’m really proud, but it also shows that I’m old now.”
Coming to Taiwan will also give Lin a chance to rediscover something he had lost in recent years as he navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and constantly changed teams: his passion for the game.
“I haven’t felt the passion for basketball and felt like a professional basketball player for a long time. So I decided to join the Steelers, and I’m really looking forward to the first game to return to an enviroenment with fans,” he said.
Lin described the past four seasons, including when he caught COVID-19 and was isolated for three months, as being particularly difficult because of how rarely he was able to perform in front of fans.
Rediscovering his passion, he said, was essential to his goal of serving as a mentor to younger players.
“If I don’t rediscover my passion for basketball then I might not be a role model,” he said, noting that he had no idea if he would continue to play after this season.
“In the next three months I’ll see where I’m at and if I can find my passion, I’ll think about continuing to play. If I can keep playing I can inspire the next generation of players.”
Lin will have the benefit of having a familiar face as a teammate. Chou Yi-hsiang (???) played with Lin during their stint with the Beijing Ducks in the CBA.
The two share a bond from their struggles together making the playoffs during the CBA’s 2019-2020 season, Lin said.
As for his ambitions for the Steelers, Lin said he understood that the team has only won two games out of 18 so far this season, but he hoped that people would focus on the process.
“If you can focus on the process, then you can accept its result,” Lin said.
As long as he does not get hurt in practice in the next few days, Lin expects to make his debut on Feb. 12, when the Steelers play the Formosa Taishin Dreamers at Kaohsiung Fengshan Arena.
Ticket sales for the game in the 5,000 seat arena were decidedly tepid as of Wednesday morning, but demand appeared to pick up once the odds of Lin playing in the game increased after the afternoon press conference.
The Steelers are currently at the bottom of the P.LEAGUE+ with a 2-16 record, 11.5 games behind the first-place 13-4 Taoyuan Pauian Pilots.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel